Heading toward Burnaby, around Willingdon Avenue where it intersects Hwy. 1, if you time it right, you could drive into one of the creepiest scenes in Metro Vancouver — Halloween or not. Stopped at a light at dusk, you may notice the hydro poles have eyes, all staring at you, and the power lines are ­beaded with black menacing shapes, daring you with symphonic cawing to open your car door.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, at 130,000 people per square kilometre the neighbourhood of Mong Kok in Kowloon, China has the highest population density on the entire planet. You'll find the neighbourhood in the Yau Tsim Mong District on the Kowloon Peninsula. The Hong Kong region has a population of 7 million people; at the last census, 278,400 of them lived in the few square miles of Mong Kok, which in Chinese means “flourishing busy corner.” Indeed it is. However, as is so often the case in urban madness, there are sweet and gentle places of refuge worth finding.

Apparently it takes six generations for an animal to develop a genetic fear of mankind, I was reliably informed by Rafael Pesantes, the world-class naturalist and guide aboard the MY Grace, the yacht on my trip through the Galapagos islands. The sea lions, birds, iguanas, tortoises and other creatures you meet on your journey there have never been hunted, he said, and have no fear of people so they do not flee or fly. They simply look at you and shrug. When was the last time you got a foot away from a blue-footed booby sitting on its eggs and it simply smiled at you?

If you happen to be going to the great temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, one of the great wonders of the modern world, be sure to take a side trip down a few kilometres to the Tonle Sap. Tonle Sap is Cambodia's Great Lake and the most prominent feature on the map of Cambodia.

There are aspects of the Whistler experience that are not for the faint hearted, and it doesn't take much to plan a vacation that has a serious impact on the adrenal system. Here is a bucket list of bad-boy activities that will push your thrill-seeking buttons.

With summer coming to a close, there might be no better time to try to sneak in one more camping trip while the weather is still forgiving. While heading out on a long road trip to find a secluded spot to camp out for the week might not be possible for many people, nearby Vancouver Island has a host of options at your disposal. Here are just a few of the spots where you can set up a tent and forget about all your worries as you reconnect with nature:

Butterflies the size of baby condors. Trees that walk. Bio-luminescent mushrooms that glow in the dark. Tiny, deadly poisonous frogs that roar like dogs. Wild cats on the prowl. No, its not Jurassic Park, but it's the next best thing.

It is not their fiery volcanic birth that has brought the equator-straddling Galapagos Islands fame. Instead it is their isolation, which, as Charles Darwin famously noted, has led to rapid evolution, resulting in the most remarkable displays of wildlife on this planet.

It suddenly occurred to me the other day, when I opened my email, that we truck drivers are starting to be appreciated by society. For years, we have considered ourselves as the “people everyone loves to hate.”

A nature and arts loving group of cyclists plan to celebrate the daily migration of thousands of crows into Burnaby. On Saturday afternoon, a bike ride is planned to follow the migrating crows as they make their daily way to an area in the Willingdon Avenue and Still Creek Drive area of Burnaby.

Oregon’s mighty Rogue River rises high in the mountains near Crater Lake. Our 44-mile hike along the Rogue River Trail parallels the “wild and scenic” Lower Rogue. It is one of the only long-distance walks in North America where one can travel from one rustic wilderness lodge or campsite to another. There are no roads. Access is only by foot, raft or small plane.

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